Judicial Firm Legal Essentials and Basis Guidance

Author: Zou Mingli, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Considering the breadth of coverage and the key and difficult issues in judicial practice, this series is the first to select eighteen commonly used legal categories, each compiled into a separate book. The series organizes issues under each legal category into two parts: "Essentials" and "Basis Guidance." The "Essentials" section includes questions (main purposes of provisions) set according to current legal documents and other difficult issues summarized from judicial practice. On the surface, these questions may not appear as targeted as those in Q&A or case-based formats, and some even resemble dry terms. However, these questions are actually the "points" of each legal category, and any issue in practice under a specific legal category can be categorized into these "points." The content of these questions is not written in the lengthy style of academic monographs or papers but is presented in the form of expert opinions, concisely explaining legal principles and highlighting key issues to be noted in judicial practice.
The "Basis Guidance" section lists as comprehensively as possible the specific legal bases related to each question. In China, legal bases are multi-tiered, including laws enacted by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, administrative regulations, departmental rules, and regulatory documents passed by the State Council and its departments, as well as judicial interpretations issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Among these bases, laws naturally have the highest authority. However, some legal provisions are relatively general, and the interpretation and handling of many practical issues require supplementary references from administrative and judicial departments. Therefore, the "Basis Guidance" section clearly identifies the names, publication dates, and issuing departments of all the above bases and includes the specific provisions applicable to each essential question (for some longer questions or those involving uncommon professional issues that require citing the full text of the basis, space constraints prevent listing the full content here; readers can refer to the specific questions later or other legal compendia for details).
With the clear framework of the "Essentials" questions, authoritative expert opinions on legal principles, and detailed, specific legal bases, the series establishes a complete and coherent structure for each legal category. We believe this innovative format for legal books can significantly meet the practical needs of legal professionals and serve as a convenient and useful reference.
It should be noted that due to the wide range of legal categories covered in this series, the workload of compilation was substantial. Authors participated from judicial practice departments, teaching, and research sectors, belonging to different industries and professions. Although we strive for uniformity in the compilation format, there are noticeable differences in language style and expression across different books. Additionally, the cutoff date for the materials used in this series is November 2004. We hope that experts and legal practitioners will provide timely and valuable feedback on the issues mentioned above so that they can be revised and corrected in future editions.